Related Articles

President Barack Obama faces an altered U.S. political landscape in the aftermath of this month's midterm elections. Come January, Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives and they will hold six additional seats in the Senate.

The Republicans, who are eagerly preparing for their majority in the House, are vowing to push a congressional agenda focused on cutting taxes and government spending.

Hiring freeze

Republican House leader John Boehner is expected to become the next Speaker of the House. He spoke to reporters on Wednesday.

"We say that there ought to be a freeze on the hiring of new federal employees and, frankly, we ought to freeze the pay," he said.

Before he left last week on a 10-day trip to Asia, President Obama said the message he got from the election results was that voters want the White House and Congress to focus on the economy and jobs after the new Congress is seated in January.

"The American people don't want us just standing still and they don't want us engaged in gridlock," said Mr. Obama. "They want us to do the people's business."

Republicans have a different read on what the election results mean. With significant gains in the House and the Senate, Republican congressional leaders say voters are demanding action on the priorities they set during the campaign, particularly the push to reduce the size of government.

"So the voters didn't suddenly fall in love with Republicans. We know that," said Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "They fell out of love with Democrats. And while they may have voted to send more Republicans to Washington, they are sending them here with clear marching orders."

Voters rewarded Republicans this year, just as they did Democrats in the 2006 and 2008 elections. The recent public mood swings suggest a very fickle electorate, says Michelle Bernard of the Independent Women's Forum.

"Both Republicans and Democrats have to work together. They have to be able to show that over the next two years they are actually going to do something that is going to cut the deficit and is going to add to private sector job growth," said bernard. "And if they don't, this electorate has demonstrated that they will kick them out in two years as well."

But it is unclear to what extent either major political party is willing to compromise. Most analysts say Republicans will try to assert themselves early in the new Congress, focusing on issues like cutting government spending and repealing the president's health care law, which passed Congress with only Democratic support.

Confrontation in Congress

Political analyst Morton Kondracke says a renewed congressional battle over the health care reform law could spark a broader confrontation between President Obama and Republican leaders that could lead to a government shutdown.

"If they just don't appropriate that money, this inhibits the ability of the administration to follow through on health care reform and could be the makings, if there is a big defunding effort underway, could be the makings of a government shutdown," said Kondracke.

President Obama faces a political landscape somewhat similar to the one that confronted Bill Clinton following the 1994 midterm elections, when Republicans took control of the House and Senate.

Mr. Clinton confronted Republicans on some issues but found areas of compromise on others, a strategy that helped him win reelection in 1996.

Some Democrats are looking for a repeat of that strategy, including former Texas Representative Martin Frost.

"The question is whether the president is going to be Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton? And I think this issue is open. I think that Democratic leaders have got to realize that the public didn't like what they were selling, and that Democratic leaders and the president have to make a sincere effort at bipartisanship because the public doesn't want gridlock," said frost. "The public wants some action on the economy."

The president and congressional Republicans will also be looking ahead to the next presidential election in 2012, when Mr. Obama presumably will seek reelection.

Political environmentchanges

Although some analysts see the recent Democratic midterm losses as a danger sign for the president, polling expert Frank Newport says the political environment two years from now could be completely different.

"Certainly for Bill Clinton, who looked to be in a very bad position in 1994, his party had lost over 50 [House] seats, lost control of Congress, and yet he came back in 1996 and won reelection handily, all by way of saying that two years is an eternity in politics," said Newport. "So what happens now probably doesn't give us much clue at all as to what is going to be happening in the 2012 presidential election."

Like Democrat Bill Clinton, former Republican President Ronald Reagan won reelection in 1984 after his party endured significant losses in the congressional midterm elections of 1982.

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Fifty years ago, lawmakers approved, and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The measure outlawed racial discrimination in voting, giving millions of blacks in many parts of the southern United States federal enforcement of the right to vote. Correspondent Chris Simkins introduces us to some civil rights leaders who were on the front lines in the struggle for voting rights.

Video

Billions of dollars of so-called ‘dirty money’ from the proceeds of crime - especially from Russia - are being laundered through the London property market, according to anti-corruption activists. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the British capital, the government has pledged to crack down on the practice.

Video

Ottawa, Illinois, is the hometown of W.D. Boyce, who founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. In Ottawa, where Scouting remains an important part of the legacy of the community, the end of the organization's ban on openly gay adult leaders was seen as inevitable. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports.

Video

Artificial limbs, including the most complex of them – the human hand – are getting more life-like and useful due to constant advances in tiny hydraulic, pneumatic and electric motors called actuators. But now, as VOA’s George Putic reports, scientists in Germany say the future of the prosthetic hand may lie not in motors but in wires that can ‘remember’ their shape.

Video

A British pro-democracy group has accused Russia of abusing the global law enforcement agency Interpol by requesting the arrest and extradition of political opponents. A new report by the group notes such requests can mean the accused are unable to travel and are often unable to open bank accounts. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

Talks on a major new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations are said to be nearing completion in Hawaii. Some trade experts say the "positive atmosphere" at the discussions could mean a deal is within reach, but there is still hard bargaining to be done over many issues and products, including U.S. drugs and Japanese rice. VOA's Jim Randle reports.

Video

Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction. The last such event was caused by an asteroid 66 million years ago. It killed off the dinosaurs and practically everything else. So scientists are in a race against time to classify the estimated 11 million species alive today. So far only 2 million are described by science, and researchers are worried many will disappear before they even have a name. VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reports.

Video

Scientists have long been trying to develop an effective protection and cure for malaria - one of the deadliest diseases that affects people in tropical areas, especially children. As the World Health Organization announces plans to begin clinical trials of a promising new vaccine, scientists in South Africa report that they too are at an important threshold. George Putic reports, they are testing a compound that could be a single-dose cure for malaria.

Video

The latest issue of 'New York' magazine features 35 women who say they were drugged and raped by film and television celebrity Bill Cosby. The women are aged from 44 to 80 and come from different walks of life and races. The magazine interviewed each of them separately, but Zlatica Hoke reports their stories are similar.

Video

The United States is promising not to give up its fight against what Secretary of State John Kerry calls the “scourge” of modern slavery. Officials released the country’s annual human trafficking report Monday – a report that’s being met with some criticism. VOA’s National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin has more from the State Department.

Video

Abandoned more than 50 years ago, the underground streetcar station in Washington D.C.’s historic DuPont Circle district is about to be reborn. The plan calls for turning the spacious underground platforms - once meant to be a transportation hub, - into a unique space for art exhibitions, presentations, concerts and even a film set. Roman Mamonov has more from beneath the streets of the U.S. capital. Joy Wagner narrates his report.

Video

Greece has replaced Italy as the main gateway for migrants into Europe, with more than 100,000 arrivals in the first six months of 2015. Many want to move further into Europe and escape Greece’s economic crisis, but they face widespread dangers on the journey overland through the Balkans. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

After the closure of a major rubbish dump a week ago, the streets of Beirut are filling up with trash. Having failed to draw up a plan B, politicians are struggling to deal with the problem. John Owens has more for VOA from Beirut.

Video

A U.N. climate conference in December aims to produce an ambitious agreement to fight heat-trapping greenhouse gases. But many local governments are not waiting, and have drafted their own climate action plans. That’s the case with Paris — which is getting special attention, since it’s hosting the climate summit. Lisa Bryant takes a look for VOA at the transformation of the French capital into an eco-city.